By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Power generation tumbled 17 percent in August from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly decline, as high electricity charges and sluggish industrial activity curbed demand.
Output fell to 13,180 gigawatt-hours (GWh) or 17,714 megawatts (MW) last month, compared with 15,959 GWh or 16,510 MW in August 2023.
On a monthly basis, power generation dropped 11.4 percent from 14,880 GWh in July. For the first two months of the fiscal year 2025, output declined 8.9 percent to 28,059 GWh or 18,857 MW.
“The primary reason for the decline is the high electricity charges, leading to lower demand,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. “Industrial activity is also slowing due to high inflation, which has eroded consumers’ purchasing power.”
Other factors contributing to the decline include increased solar power adoption and monsoon rains, which kept power demand in check.
The power generation mix showed hydel as the leading source, accounting for 40.7 percent of the total, followed by nuclear at 16.6 percent, and regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) at 16 percent. Wind power contributed 3 percent, while solar and bagasse accounted for 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
The actual power generation was 13.1 percent lower than the reference generation in August. This may result in higher capacity charges for the second quarter of fiscal 2025.
Meanwhile, the total cost of generating electricity dropped 9.3 percent to Rs7.49 per kilowatt-hour (KWh) in August from Rs8.27 /KWh a year earlier, driven by a 21 percent decline in power generation costs from imported coal.
Power generation costs from imported coal fell to Rs15.83/KWh in August, compared with Rs20.14 /KWh in the same period last year.
“The decline in generation is expected to result in higher capacity charges for the 2QFY25 QTA,” brokerage AHL said in a report.
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